In this episode of Women Empower Active, we speak with Emily Johnson. She is a runner, a climber, a skier, and an aspiring mountaineer. She is also a personal trainer who works for a nonprofit. Emily grew up in a very small town in Alaska, where she joined sports just to have something to do and hang out with her friends. When she moved out of Alaska being active became unhealthy and a way for her to deal with problems at home.

It wasn't until college that she had a better support system and her strong faith that she started to see that she can do hard things and believe in herself. Emily unpacks how running even a 50k can be a good way to process emotions and not suppress them, mostly. She also really breaks down mountaineering and why she loves it.

Trigger Warning ⚠️ Sexual assault is mentioned. If that will impact you, please skip this episode. At 18 while running for her university Elizabeth was told that she had serious issues with her spine and by 28 she couldn't even lift her newborn baby. After back surgeries and time spent bedridden, Elizabeth talks about her perspective on running and the importance it has in her life. She also talks about how she regained her power and what motivates her to push through in hard times. We also get into Elizabeth's educational background and her work focused around social justice. Finally, she encourages women to find what gives them joy about moving their bodies.

In this episode, we interview 5.14a climber, Sam Caligiuri. We talk about going from a very busy childhood as a dedicated gymnast to nothing when as a 16 year old Sam quit the sport. We then go into how Sam's path to climbing, how she looks at training, and what growth means to her. She breaks down her living situation and how she manages to keep her alternate lifestyle going. Finally dealing with the sketch factor and her words of empowerment for other women wanting to get active in this space. 

In this episode, we speak with Najah Floyd who tells us how running changed her life. Najah raced the 400 and 200 meter for Central Michigan University, a D1 University. She has the 400m record for Central with a time of 52.29, the 200m record holder with a time of 23.66 and she was an Olympic qualifier in the 400m in 2008. She has her masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is now a Licensed Professional Counselor (LLPC).